Morning journal and courier., 1887-03-02
FLORIDA FISHING.
Good Winter Sport With the Fly on the H1llsborough River.

From the Journal of Commerce.
 Possibly some who read this will remem- Der that three years ago described the fish.
 ing with fly rod in the Hillsborough river
 here at Tampa. I wrote then in March The
 salt water fish have their own times for com
 ing up into the fresh water streams, and it
 was therefore uncertain whether in the latter part of January and first of February should find any game fish in the river. But
 of course I have tried them, and with what
 success thus far shall herein appear.
 In general the fishing is said to be much
 better on the west than on the east coast. I
 do not know enough about either to express
 an opinion on the subject I fancy that
 with bait one may have amply good sport on
 either side. But I know of no places on the
 east side where one can deal with salt water fish as here at Tampa, for I know of no
 place like this, where strong, fresh water
 river meets the salt water tides. The Hills
 borough river is three or four hundred feet
 wide at Tampa, which lies on it's east bank
 near the point of it's entering Tampa Bay
 Above the river narrows. The tide flows
 two or three miles up, varying with the
 winds. The brackish water is largely inhab ited by small fish, and the various large sea fish go up to it both for enjoyment of the water and for the abundance of food they find in it. You can TOW seven miles up the
 river, and it is most charming row, now with high banks forest-covered, now along deep palmetto groves, now by open sandy barrens where flowers abound
 The first afternoon that took my rod up the river I found the ebb tide running strong and fish were scarce. I fshed only a few l minutes and then devoted myself to botany | and entomology on shore. The next day I l took the first of the food and rowed up two | and half miles to a bend of the stream | where three years ago I had my best fishing. | It was late on a sunny afternoon, the ther-
 mometer in the hotel at eighty-two degrees,
 bat stiff breeze blowing up stream made l the air delicious By way of experiment I
 used trolling rod, and as we rowed up | stream trolled small silver spinner Two
 miles up fish struck and took him ia, 8 l four-pound sea trout, as he is called dowI l here. This fish is excellent for the table
 8 strong fighter and takes the fly in clear
 water. In the muddy waters of the cas- | coast he is chiefly taken with live bait | No fish in fresh or salt water affords more
 sport to the angler with 8 fly rod. The | presence of thus taking spoon wal | evidence that there were some of them il 1 the river, and I slowed away the trolling rod and took in hand fly rod, using tive
 large flies, the one gaudy silver doctor l the other nondescript of my own tying l took both sea trout and rovallio I cast sev l eral times in shore and drew out into deer | water, but without success.
 l Then I started across the river and as did a sharp strike on the tail fly trail | ing behind the boat brought 4ne up short. | had hooked very strong fish, and he made brave fight for five or ten min utes
 before I brought him to the landing net, 6 l good five pound trout. Rowing back to the | west shore and casting out, I let my fly
 sink foot, then drew swiftly shoreward | and struck two fish. They were both very
 strong, and as usual when two fish are on l there was nothing to do but keep a bent
 rod in hand and wait till they tired each other out. It was fifteen minutes before | they accomplished this, and I landed one with the net and the other with my hand | At the next cast I again struck two, but | did not know it. 1 only knew that I had heavy weight and active life on my line
 and for ten minutes l labored in vain te
 bring whatever there was there to the sur
 face, so that I might know what it was At last there was a sudden yield and one
 fish came up. The other fly was gone, the trout that had taken it having broker away. It was the fly I had tied myself | that was gone. The fault was mine in not
 doing stronger work, or perhaps the fault
 was in using a fly tied a year ago, with
 out soaking or warming it thoroughly. | But it had landed one good fish securely,
 and I am not sure that there was any fault
 about it. Tackle will not last forever.
 Perhaps one of the two sharp front teeth of the trout had cut the tie. Such losses do not count where fish are plenty, and I
 had another fly on in a few seconds, and
 another fish on at the third or fourth cast. | It was a small black bass weighing pound or so Then I struck a half-pound trout. | Then another five pounder Altogether I | fshed about an hour and killed, besides a | variety of smaller fish, six trout weighing l from four and half to six pounds.